The Warriors have been effusive with their praise of the Celtics this week. While they’d probably talk like this about any NBA Finals opponent, it doesn’t hurt, in this case, that they see a lot of themselves in Boston.
On Tuesday, Golden State coach Steve Kerr called Marcus Smart “the guard version” of his own defensive stalwart, Draymond Green. On Wednesday, Kerr made another comparison between the two teams, and it was about how each team’s core built up to its first NBA Finals appearance -- the Warriors’ in 2015, the Celtics’ this year.
“What I see in Boston is a great defensive team, super athletic, a team that has continuity. They’ve been in the playoffs year after year, with the same core,” Kerr said. “So it’s a team that has worked its way to this point, in a very natural, organic way. Traditionally, this is how it’s supposed to work in the NBA. If you look over the years, you grow a team through the draft, you take your lumps in the playoffs, you climb up and then you get to the Finals.
“Our team was built somewhat the same way. A couple trips to the playoffs with some young guys, gain more and more experience, and break through. I think what I like is it’s two teams that mostly built with patience and through the draft and player development and continuity. I think that’s good for the sport.”
The Warriors drafted their core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Green in a four-year span between 2009 and 2012. They lost in the second round in 2013 and the first round in 2014 before getting to the Finals and winning it all in 2015.
The addition of Kevin Durant in 2016 supercharged the dynasty and helped them win two more titles in 2017 and 2018, but Durant is gone now. The new supporting cast has come through a combination of the draft (Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole) and smart trades (Andrew Wiggins) and signings (Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II).
The Celtics similarly drafted their core of Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in a four-year span from 2014 to 2017. Add in the picks of Robert Williams in 2018, Grant Williams in 2019 and Payton Pritchard in 2020, plus trades for Al Horford last summer and Derrick White at the trade deadline, and you have the organic supporting cast.
These Celtics never had multiple years of missing the playoffs like Curry did his first few seasons, but they similarly had to come up short in the playoffs a few times before finally breaking through to the Finals this year. Both teams even had star guards in their early plans that ultimately weren't long-term fits -- Monta Ellis for the Warriors, Kyrie Irving for the C's.
Thompson couldn’t help but see the similarities, too.
“Yeah, I think they’re pretty much the age we were back then [in 2015], in their mid-20s,” Thompson said. “You have to give that organization credit. I feel like Brown and Tatum and Smart have been there 10 years already. They worked hard to get here, just like we did. We respect them. They present unique challenges to us, but it’s just gonna be a dogfight. We know how physical and athletic they are, and we expect a hard-fought series.”
Another similarity between the 2014-15 Warriors and the 2021-22 Celtics: Both had a first-year head coach. It took a switch from Mark Jackson to Kerr to get Golden State to the next level. Boston’s move from Brad Stevens to Ime Udoka is similarly paying off in Year 1.
The Celtics would love to have Udoka’s first season end the same way Kerr’s did.
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